Karen Riggs

Professor Riggs teaches undergraduate courses in Media Studies and graduate courses in Cultural Studies, Qualitative Methods, and the Digital Divide. Her research focuses on media and age. She has published two books: Granny @ Work: Age and Technology on the Job in America (Routledge, 2004) and Mature Audiences: Television in the Lives of Elders (Rutgers University Press, 1998). She is the author of several refereed journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers.

Riggs’s current project is a third book: Groovin’: Baby Boomers, Identity, and Marketing. This book explores the Baby Boomers’ influence on the changing confluence of marketing practices and cultural definitions of aging. It treats such topics as Botox, Viagra, Classic Rock, packaged nostalgia, and revolutionary practices of the American funeral industry.

Riggs is former Director of the School of Media Arts and Studies and was founding Director of the Game Research and Immersive Design (GRID) Lab.